


A Waking Nightmare

by Asholomew



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Bad omens, Dreams and Nightmares, Mostly Nowi, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Omens, Premonitions, Repressed Memories, Robin and their mother have a tiny appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26319520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asholomew/pseuds/Asholomew
Summary: Nowi awakens to a strangely familiar nightmare.
Kudos: 7





	A Waking Nightmare

She ran on legs that burned with strain, through trees that dissolved into ash at a touch. Whispers of the ever present shadows filled every crevice of the forsaken forest. It was everywhere, a virulent presence that permeated the very air, singeing her lungs and corroding the forest, suffocating the world beneath sickly green clouds.

She whirled her head around, emerald hair slapping her face as amorphous figures slithered through the hazy treelines. She dared not stop. She kept running in a direction with no destination. Only away from them. The stench of ash and blood made her eyes water, reducing her world to mere steps in front of her. All while the shadows followed. Before her, behind her, beside her, above her. 

A building came into view. She was through its doors before she even contemplated its purpose, panting as the suffocating presence faded. She looked around as the roaring in her ears settled. Stained glass windows bathed the room in dozens of colours, highlighting a mosaic symbol in the centre. Six eyes connected by entwined lines.

She had no time to scream as the room was ripped asunder, stone and debris torn up by dark winds. She fell to the ground, clutching her knees as a roar was heard through the storm. An ancient and familiar roar. She heard it again, so loud that it forced her eyes open and her head up. Looming over her was a colossal winged beast, horns piercing the skies, red eyes hungry and burning.

***

Nowi woke gasping, head swimming with a blinding pressure. The faint rays of dawn strained to pierce the grimy window of the inn room, leaving her in near total darkness. She writhed in the bed, soaked hair clinging to her collarbones. The room was cold and swaying, which when combined with the blood roaring in her ears, left her feeling as if she were submerged. Her stomach churned as she forced herself into a sitting position. For several minutes she tried to slow her breathing, all while the walls closed in on her. 

She slipped out of bed, nearly falling on her face in doing so. Throwing on her travelling cloak, Nowi stumbled out of the room into a hallway that dragged forever. Forcing her eyelids to stay open, she sprinted down the stairs, legs buckling every few steps, disturbing the drowsier guests. She burst out into the waking town, the cold air shocking her awake like a bucket of icy water. As she gulped in cold, fresh morning air, the drowsiness faded and the churning stopped, though her heart still pounded against her ribcage. She opened herself to the world, feeling the mud beneath her feet and the early rays of the sun on her body, desperately trying to ground herself in reality again. 

The air was still and quiet, save for the soft slushing of boots in mud as the villagers began their daily routines. Certain it had passed, Nowi began walking, unaware of the stares and comments she was getting from those passing by. Then she heard it. A low rumble, more a feeling than a sound. Her vision began to blur, darkness encroaching at the corners of her eyes as the rumble got louder. Panic seized her, pushing her to run. But Nowi could do no more than shuffle. An unseen pressure began to mount, drawing the air out of her lungs, making her body ache and her heart constrict. She whined as the pressure brought her to her knees, the world around her fading. She clutched her heart, strained gasps breaking through while tears began to form. The crushing weight became excruciating; she could do nothing more than rock back and forth in the mud, her head ready to split. She couldn’t even form a prayer, just a simple, “Please.” 

The pain stopped. Her eyes flew open as her chest heaved with effort. She was vaguely aware she was lying down, supported by the hands of several villagers; though she could not hear them speak, nor feel her own body. All was numb. As Nowi lay dazed, staring up to a pink sky that seemed somehow threatening, she could do nothing but think of a similar feeling. Something she had not felt in a thousand years. A terror that the oblivious villagers around her could not hope to understand.

***

The Plegian woman flopped back gasping onto the bed. Her attendants brushed her silver hair out of her eyes and dabbed her sweat-slicked face with wet cloths. As she refocused, another attendant came up to her, a small bundle in her arms. The silver haired woman held her arms out expectedly, hungrily.

The attendant tenderly laid the blanket wrapped object in her arms. It was a baby, pale and wriggling. She smiled as she looked down at her little baby. Where it had once been screaming, it now lay silent, content in its mother's arms. The woman tenderly brushed its bald head as she savoured the moment. Her eyes wandered over its developing features. Its tiny nose, to its wrinkled head, all the way down to its little hand, curling and uncurling automatically. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the mark on its hand. Six eyes connected by entwined lines.

**Author's Note:**

> It's amazing what can come from 2:00 am ramblings.  
> Someone made the observation that Nowi claims to be over a thousand years old, which means its plausible she was around the first time Grima rose to power. Though it's likely she was too young to properly remember, it led to the head canon that Nowi at least recalls the sheer power of Grima, and may even feel it when he returns.


End file.
